I distinctly remember as a 4-year old until I was about seven or so, there used to be a bigger kid in the village who would tease me everyday. He belonged to a "scheduled" caste.
I am not an expert on the caste system in India, but let me relate what I know. In my village about 30% of the people belonged to the scheduled castes. There were two scheduled castes - holeru, madigaru - in our village. I have no idea what the difference is between these castes and the higher castes.
Both were considered the lowest castes (they were not even allowed to touch the people of higher caste). If a higher caste person gets accidentally touched by a holeru/madigaru person, they would rush off to get a bath and clean themselves. Holeru and madigaru lived in a separate part of the village and could not mix with higher caste. They basically worked as laborers in the farms owned by higher caste folk. I hadn't seen a single well-off or educated lower caste person in my village. It seemed as if, their fate - once born in the lower caste - is doomed.
Mahatma Gandhi tried very hard to kill the caste system - he even coined the term "harijan" to the so called lowest caste people. Harijan means God's people. The term is widely is used but the attitude pretty much remains unchanged, at least in villages. In big cities, no one cares about the caste.
Serving Harijans in our cafe
They could come to our cafe (read the other blog on it) but had to stay outside. We would serve them idly and chutney in a paper (newsprint). I have seen watery chutney dissolve the ink, but I didn't see it bothering them. They had to wash themselves a cup that was in the windowsill that was meant for them and we would pour coffee into it. In serving idly or coffee or taking money from them, we managed to never touch them (otherwise, we had to take bath which we didn't particularly enjoy). I have never seen anyone protest this arrangement. While the whole things about Indian caste system looks utterly abhorrent now, as kids, we took it for granted. In spite of this third class treatment, they had to pay the same price as other did for idly/coffee.
Harijans were not allowed to draw water from the village wells that were used by higher caste folks. They could not participate in village cultural and religious activities. They could not enter or even come anywhere near village temple. They had to move to the side if a higher caste person, no matter what his age, is walking in the street.
I am not an expert on the caste system in India, but let me relate what I know. In my village about 30% of the people belonged to the scheduled castes. There were two scheduled castes - holeru, madigaru - in our village. I have no idea what the difference is between these castes and the higher castes.
Both were considered the lowest castes (they were not even allowed to touch the people of higher caste). If a higher caste person gets accidentally touched by a holeru/madigaru person, they would rush off to get a bath and clean themselves. Holeru and madigaru lived in a separate part of the village and could not mix with higher caste. They basically worked as laborers in the farms owned by higher caste folk. I hadn't seen a single well-off or educated lower caste person in my village. It seemed as if, their fate - once born in the lower caste - is doomed.
Mahatma Gandhi tried very hard to kill the caste system - he even coined the term "harijan" to the so called lowest caste people. Harijan means God's people. The term is widely is used but the attitude pretty much remains unchanged, at least in villages. In big cities, no one cares about the caste.
Serving Harijans in our cafe
They could come to our cafe (read the other blog on it) but had to stay outside. We would serve them idly and chutney in a paper (newsprint). I have seen watery chutney dissolve the ink, but I didn't see it bothering them. They had to wash themselves a cup that was in the windowsill that was meant for them and we would pour coffee into it. In serving idly or coffee or taking money from them, we managed to never touch them (otherwise, we had to take bath which we didn't particularly enjoy). I have never seen anyone protest this arrangement. While the whole things about Indian caste system looks utterly abhorrent now, as kids, we took it for granted. In spite of this third class treatment, they had to pay the same price as other did for idly/coffee.
Harijans were not allowed to draw water from the village wells that were used by higher caste folks. They could not participate in village cultural and religious activities. They could not enter or even come anywhere near village temple. They had to move to the side if a higher caste person, no matter what his age, is walking in the street.
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